Ahead of the return of the show on October 16 – where it’ll kick off with The Walking Dead‘s 100th episode – Gimple has discussed the similarities between Rick and Negan, who are set to go to war against one another in the show’s forthcoming eighth season.

The Walking Dead

“I think if we followed Negan, we might even be in the same place that we are with Rick where we’re like, ‘Whoa. What you’re doing there seems like the behaviour of a bad person’,” Gimple told ComicBook.com. “What’s interesting is, I think for Rick’s experience, he’s justified in what he’s doing. The world has formed him this way, and what he’s done has generally been a reaction to being threatened and trying to make sure his people live.

“Things are getting greyer and greyer and greyer. But I think the things that Rick has done, you can hold up against the things that Negan has done and it’s not a vast gulf between those two, but the way that they operate is very different. Their philosophies are very different, and that’s maybe where we see one person being the hero and one person being the villain.”